he was elected to the house. in 1998, he was elected to the senate we he has twice-won reelection by comfortable margins. on to the thrilling matters of the process. we are on the record. please, no live blogging or tweeting. there is no embargo when the session ends, except that c- span has agreed not to air the video of the preface or post the video until noon today to give those of you who paid for the breakfast the time to file. please do the traditional thing and send me a non-threatening signal. our guests will have the opportunity to make opening comments. >> thank you. >> thank you, dave. thanks for the introduction. i just learned we have four nobel laureates. at one point, we had three u.s. senators, each of a different party. that is probably a historic first. that is myself, bernie sanders, and the republican party. when i went to minnesota to work for amy in the fall of 2006, i said, there were three madison high school graduates in the senate. i hoped to make it two more. that is what happened. i th